Brother Of Stiches
by Midnight-Shadow-Wolfling
Summary: Beaten,bloody,and left for dead floating down a river heading towards The Hidden Waterfall Village; 5-year old Naruto Uzumaki ends up in a hidden cave where he finds something that will change his life forever.StrongNaruto!NarutoxHinata
1. Chapter 1

**Authors Not**e: **Hiya everyone its Midnight-Shadow-Wolfling here with my second story here! It was just something I had on my mind and I just felt like doing it for fun. So please enjoy!**

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto because it is a cruel world!

Brother of Stitches

Chapter 1: Within The Black Lagoon

Even if he was only 5-years old now he knew that people didn't spend their birthday's being chased by a bloodthirsty mob. All he had done was ask the man at the bakery to spare him a small loaf of bread. Heck he had even offered what little ryo he had left. Then the next thing he knew the man started yelling about the demon was robbing him; acting on instinct the boy began running. Bringing us up to the bind he was in at the moment. He couldn't go on much longer. They were directly behind him now and were gaining fast. He could here their yelling growing closer.

"Come back here you demon bastard! Think you can just steal from us?! We are going to kill you this day for sure!" An old woman yelled.

"Yeah we will make you pay for all the people you killed you little hell spawn!" The leader of the mob yelled. His name was Riku. He was an old jounin with one arm and no left eye who was on the front lines during the Kyuubi attack… And knew about it being sealed away into the only known child to be born on that day.

The boy in question was terrified. His name was Uzumaki Naruto. He was a small blonde boy with cerulean blue eyes and whisker-like marks on the sides of his face. His clothes were tattered and dirty to the point you couldn't tell what color they were. The boy was also bare foot and crying as he tried running faster. However his eyes were becoming blurry. Trying desperately to wipe away the tears with his dirty sleeves he just succeeded in smudging the dirt into his eyes. Blinded he fell to the ground as he tripped over a tree root. The villagers and ninja were caught up now and were armed to the teeth with sharp objects to take their revenge out on the brat.

"Finally! Today is the day you die Kyuubi-brat. There's no Anbu to save you now and no one to here you scream…not like anyone would care. Tie him up!" The old jounin instructed the male Chunin behind him. The man stepped forward and began tying Naruto to a large oak tree. After finishing the torturing began. The man backed up slowly and started the handsigns for a fire jutsu.

"Let's see if you like being burned alive demon._**Karyuu Endan - Fire Dragon Flame Projectile!**_**" **He yelled. A long stream of fire shot out of his mouth and hit Naruto dead on. Naruto screamed in agony as the flesh was slowly and painfully burned off his arms and torso. Kyuubi worked furiously to heal him quickly.

When the fire died down all that was left of Naruto's clothing was his unknown colored shorts he usually wore. His upper body had severer burns and blisters. He felt intense pain as he took a shaky breath. A villager and what he believed what was his father stepped up. The little boy was holding a rock in his hand. Naruto yelped when the boy threw the rock at him and hit him in the face.

"That's for taking my mother away from me bakemono! Why can't you just die and leave everyone to live in peace!?" He asked angrily.

Naruto was too weak to answer the question. He just hung limply against the tree. Furious at the lack of response from the demon; the mob advanced and began their violent assault. The first wave of people were simply children who threw rotten food and rocks at Naruto. They were the less spiteful group. The second wave was even worse. They were mostly women and old ladies with things like brooms, bamboo sticks, and other lightweight but painful house hold items. After they were finished the civilian men took over. They unlike the women they held things like butcher knives, glass bottles, and pitch forks. Naruto was about to fall unconscious, but kept his eyes open long enough to see the last of the mob step forward. His eyes widened. The only ones left were the most aggressive of all his tormentors…the shinobi. They stood in a circle that surrounded the whole tree. A female ninja used the _**Suiryuudan no Jutsu - Water Dragon Projectile**__**Technique**_to first soak him and the tree with water from a river he hadn't notice until now. Then the old man with the missing arm started doing one handed handsigns; followed closely by every other ninja that was standing alongside him. He spoke to Naruto with a crazed smirk on his face.

"Hope you go to see you in hell demon spawn!_**Rairyuu no Tatsumaki - Lightning**__**Dragon Tornado!!"**__They all yelled in unison. _All at once they released their attacks onto the poor blonde child.

No matter how much it tried, the Kyuubi couldn't keep Naruto conscious. The attack had fried Naruto badly and the mighty tree that he was tied to fell to the ground with a booming thud. Suddenly both the old jounin and two other jounin walked over to the seemly dead body and carried it to the river. The two men threw Naruto in and watched as the body floated down the river and around a riverbed and out of sight.

"That demon didn't even deserve a proper burial." Riku said. "We must return to the village and tell the others that the demon is finally dead. Let's go." And with that the mob of people headed back to the village to tell those still at the Kyuubi Festival the good news. As they arrived at the village gates a team of Anbu, Jounin, and the Hokage were lined up in front of them. The Hokage looked furious.

"I know that it is common for ninja and villagers to go out of the village during the festival, it's always been that way. However they usually go with family after asking the gatekeepers…not in a mob chasing after a little boy without permission. Now I'm not in the best moods right now so I'm only going to ask this once: Where is Uzumaki Naruto?" The ones who threw Naruto into the river were sweating bullets. The river they threw him down split into many different directions and were one of the largest in the world.

"Ok since no ones talking at the moment you all will be taken to Ibiki and interrogated for the disappearance and suspected murder of a civilian of Konoha. Anbu! Arrest them all. And tell Ibiki that if he finds the ringleaders: Keep them hostage and wait for me to tell them their public execution date for breaking one of my laws." The Anbu members all nodded and began their arrests. Some of the civilians tried escaping, but the highly trained Anbu operatives were to fast for them. The ninja knew to stay put. Unlike the civilians the Anbu were not afraid of being a little rough with them. Almost 30 minutes later everyone was rounded up and taken to interrogation headquarters.

"Why do my people not see that he is a hero for keeping the monster at bay? Only the monster itself. Oh Minato if you were still here you would be so disappointed in the village you died to protect…and at me…for not taking better care of your son. I can only pray to Kami that he's alright." The Sandaime said to himself as he looked towards the Great Stone Faces at the face next to his.

Meanwhile an unconscious Naruto floated down a long river, belly up, leading towards the Waterfall Village. Naruto's body was slowly being cleansed by the flowing water and the weapons and injuries that were all over his body began to slowly disappear. His tenant was working overtime. The fox let out a string of curses as Naruto went over a waterfall and landing roughly on a ledge that led into a cave. He laid there motionless in a dreamless sleep while Kyuubi healed him silently.

'**This will take a while to heal. Maybe a couple of days even. It's best if I leave him to sleep outside of his mindscape this time. Stupid Gaki always getting into things that end up with me healing him. I hate my life.'** The fox thought before heading back to work.

-Three Days Later-

Naruto woke up from his pain-filled and awkward sleep. All night he could hear something cursing furiously and angrily about healing something. He shrugged it off as just his imagination. Naruto sat up and looked around him.

'Where am I? I don't remember being in a cave after they zapped me. Better take a look around. 'He thought. Standing on his two feet he winced as an intense burning feeling shot threw his entire body and he fell to the ground. He was about to ask what happened when that same voice he heard last night appeared again.

"**Sorry kit but it seems I've overworked myself. I will be resting for a while. So try to stay alive without me. Your body will be fine in a couple of minutes."** The voice said. Naruto's eyes darted franticly around the cave looking for the voice. After finding only water and stalagmites he began to gradually rise to his feet. Though he was still a little wobbly he managed to stay on his feet this time without falling to the ground. Once again looking around him Naruto noticed that there was nothing in the cave but water, rocks, and stalagmites.

"I don't remember there being any waterfalls this big in Konoha. They must have thrown me into a really big river if I'm near waterfalls this big. I guess the only thing I can do at the moment is explore this boring cave." He said aloud to himself.

The young blonde boy slowly and carefully made his way through the dark and large cave. He winced every time he walked on the cold ground because he wasn't wearing any type of foot wear. The sharp rocks cut into the bottom of his feet, he however didn't really pay any attention to it though…He's been threw so much already that a few small cuts in his feet didn't bother him as much as it should. Reaching the back of the cave Naruto saw that there was a tunnel way that got smaller as you went further in. As Naruto crawled farther into the tunnel he noticed that there was a stream of light entering through a vine-covered opening. The opening itself was the size of maybe a small bear…or a malnourished 5-year old boy. With his small hands he pushed the vines aside and crawled in.

"Wow this place is…disturbing...and yet also beautiful. Where the hell am I?" He asked himself.

Inside of the secret tunnel at the back of the cave was a forest. This forest however was not like any other. The trees were dead and of the purest white while the ground was littered with old animal bones…Or what he thought were animal bones. Scattered around randomly were white crystals that made the cave glow peacefully. Though the crystals were bright; Naruto couldn't see anything higher then the 20-foot tall trees because of the never ending darkness. Naruto began walking farther into the glowing forest once more and after 5 minutes of walking he found himself standing in front of a small, black lagoon. Surrounding the lagoon were trees that had black petals on them; contrasting with the pale moon white of the tree bark. The lagoon's surface was covered with the dark petals and Naruto couldn't tell what was underneath them.

Letting his 5-year old curiosity get the better of him, Naruto slowly approached the lagoon and crouched down near the edge. Taking his small hands he hesitantly swept away some of the petals. What he saw underneath made him yelp and jump back from the body of water. Not far from the surface, maybe an arms length away, was a coffin. It was a child size, pitch black coffin. The only thing that Naruto could make out was the shape. A shape he was all too familiar with. He knew what the inside and outside shape of a coffin looked like from personal experience. The object of interest was suspended in the water by what looked like large silver chains; they were attached to spikes that surrounded the lagoon. He was surprised that he had not noticed it untill now.

"I wonder if someone is in there. People can be cruel like that. Well I'm already here so why not see if there is? No one deserves to be put to death without a proper burial." Making up his mind, he began to dig around the spike with his bare hands. He was having some trouble though. The bloods on his hands were making it difficult for him to pull the spikes up because they kept on slipping out of his grasp. With the final spike dug up, the chains were released. Naruto rushed back to the spot where he cleared away the black petals. Gazing into the black abyss he sat there expecting for the possibly body-filled coffin to sink to the bottom of the lagoon. What he didn't expect to happen was for the coffin to hover in the water; unchained and unmoving. Then the coffin began to lift out of its watery prison that was the lagoon of black petals. It shot straight up and hovered 25 feet over the water. Now he could make out the designs. It was pure black with the kanji for all the elements surrounding what looked like the skull of a human being. The kanji were blood red while the skull was bone white. Naruto was becoming quite scared and backed away from the floating coffin; in doing so he fell flat onto his butt. The coffin inched forward above the ground and descended down towards the frightened blonde child. It landed with a thud and just stood there stalk still. Gaining a little courage the child rose to his feet and approached the coffin. Licking his lips Naruto spoke softly to the inanimate object.

"H-Hello is anyone i-in there? M-My name is N-Naruto U-U-Uzumaki. I-Is anyone in t-there?" He asked. No response. Hesitantly he stepped forward and placed the palm of his hand on top of the coffin lid. What he didn't notice was that he had placed his bloody hand on top of the skull…and it was beginning to turn the bone white skull into a bloody one. However he did notice that the coffin began to vibrate violently. He did notice the lid was opening slowly. And most of all…he did notice the glowing green and black eyes staring right back at him as the entire lid opened up to reveal…

To Be continued….


	2. A Deal is Made

Authors Note: Well this is the second chapter of Brother of Stitches. I hope you like it.

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto because it is a cruel world!

Brother of Stitches

Chapter 2: A Deal is Made

Naruto has never been more terrified in his entire life then right at this moment. When the lid opened up he tried to run away from it but he was stopped by something from the coffin pulling him up off the ground and into the air. Now he was a ten feet off the ground dangling by the rope-like material that had grabbed a hold of his leg. Though he was upside down he could easily make out the glowing pair of green eyes that were gazing up into his cerulean blue ones. That scared him greatly. Whatever the thing was, it was observing him from head to toe and everything in between. He had seen the villagers do this to him anytime they were ready for a chase. Suddenly the thing suspending him in the air lowered him eye level to the green eyes. Naruto was shaking like a leaf during a tornado. The thing inside of the pitch black coffin shifted and spoke in a voice that made Naruto shiver.

"_**Who are you gaki?"**_ The voice asked. It was obviously a male. _**"And what the hell are you doing in my cave? You do not belong here."**_ Naruto couldn't even say anything because he was shaking so bad. When the eyes narrowed at him he could feel hot tears running down his face and landing softly onto the cold ground. He closed his eyes; trying to block out the intense gaze of the strange creature. Without warning the rope-like object extended him back farther from the coffin…so that the occupant could step out from his once watery prison. Naruto let his curiosity get the better of him and opened his eyes to see what the thing really was. What Naruto saw scared him, but not as much as he thought it would.

The 'thing' that stepped out of the coffin was actually a boy. He was as small as he was; only taller by an inch or two, and just as skinny. His hair was dark brown and went down a little past his shoulders. The boy's eyes were still black with neon green pupils, but were slightly dimmer now that he was out in the open. His skin was very tan even though he most likely hasn't seen the light of day since like forever. His entire body was littered with stitches made out of thick, black thread…It was also the rope like material that was currently suspending him in the air. Even the mouth had stitches going across them; though they were loose to the point of him still being able to speak. The older boy was wearing a mesh shirt underneath a navy-blue shirt, matching shinobi pants, and the standard shinobi sandals. Surprisingly they had very few rips in them despite being chained underwater for Kami knows how long.

'_What is he going to do with me? He looks mad at me already for just being here! Why do bad things only happen to me? Well whatever he does to me can't be any worse then what's already been done.' _Naruto was so deep into his thoughts that he missed what the other boy just said.

"U-Umm…C-can y-y-you please r-repeat that?" He asked quietly. Neon green eyes narrowed at him dangerously.

"_**I said stop that damn crying and tell me why the hell you are down here. No one else knows about this place besides the ones who put me in that blasted coffin."**_ The boy said. Naruto didn't respond. _**"Answer Me gaki!!!!"**_ He growled. For extra measures his threads shook the blonde child violently. In a panic Naruto began to cry hysterically which only mad the older boy even angrier. Seeing that the violent shaking wasn't helping much in making the child shut up; he decided to stop and using some more of his threads he set Naruto right side up onto the ground. Naruto stumbled and fell to the ground as the boy crouched down in front of him.

"_**Look gaki. I'm not going to hurt you. Got it? Looks like someone already got a crack at you. Now stop whining and answer the question."**_ He asked calmly. Naruto stopped crying immediately. Not fully trusting the strange looking boy Naruto whispered how he got there so quietly even by straining to hear the brown haired boy heard nothing. _**"Gaki you're really testing my patience. SPEAK THE HELL**_ _**UP!"**_ The smaller child was just about to begin again when the other boy added: _**"And don't you dare start stuttering... Or else." **_Wiping his face with the back of his hands Naruto took a deep breath and began to explain.

"W-W-Well a c-couple of-"He received a fierce glare from the boy, Naruto stopped and started over from the beginning. "A couple of days ago was my birthday. I usually didn't go out on my birthdays because that's when the villagers beat me up the most. I think it is because it's the same day the Kyuubi attacked my village." The brown haired child raised an eyebrow at this but said nothing. "However I was out of groceries and I was so hungry. So I went outside into the streets and tried to go through the trash cans to find something to eat untill the next day when the people wouldn't be as aggressive. I was in an alleyway behind this grocery store and right when I was about to turn around and leave the store owner came out. She started yelling about how I was trying to steal her bread. The other people who were outside for the festival were starting to notice the commotion and began a mob. The next thing I knew I was running out of the village gates and into the forest with a huge mob after me. Eventually they caught up to me and then-" He paused and hugged his legs. "They tied me to a tree and began to beat me. First ones were the kids, then the women, the men afterwards, and then finally the ninjas. They used jutsu, weapons, and trash on me before they dumped my body in a river. At least I think they did. I was unconscious but when I woke up this voice said something to me and then disappeared. I began exploring this cave and I found that opening in the wall. I decided to go on ahead and enter since I didn't think anyone else was here. That's how I ended up at this black lagoon…and finding your coffin." As he finished he looked up into the face of the other boy.

His face held no emotions but Naruto could tell he was thinking about something. Gaining a little confidence he decided to ask the boy a couple of questions.

"Excuse me?" The other boy looked up. "I was wondering if you would tell me your name. Mines is Uzumaki Naruto!" He exclaimed.

"_**It's Kakuzu gaki."**_ Naruto scowled.

"Stop calling me a kid already! You're only like a year or two older then I am!" Naruto pouted. Kakuzu chuckled softly.

"_**Gaki I am way older than I look. 7 or 8? Try 178."**__(Not for real. Nobody really knows how old he really is.)_Naruto gaped at the person in front of him. No way in hell can someone be that old. It was unheard of.

"T-That's impossible! There's no way that you are that old! You look as young me! How'd you do that!?" Naruto practically had stars in his eyes. He never met someone so cool before besides the old man and his six year old mind was taking control of him. Maybe he could even teach him new jutsu so he could become Hokage! Kakuzu saw the look in Naruto's eyes and sighed. He wasn't going to hear the end of this.

"_**Ok. Since you are obviously a very persistent kid and most likely stubborn. I'll make you a deal. Are you interested?"**_ Naruto jumped to his feet and nodded vigorously. _**"If you let me live with you as your older sibling; I'll help teach you and keep those bastards from laying a hand on you. Deal?...Uhh gaki? Are you still with me gaki?!" **_Kakuzu waved his hand in front of Naruto's face.

Said child was staring at him with wide, watery eyes. It was a dream come true. Finally he would have someone to protect him. Someone one to train him. Someone to call family. In all his excitement he latched onto Kakuzu and promptly knocked him over.

That was before he was plucked off and flung to the ground. He smiled when he realized that Kakuzu was smirking at him from his position on the stone pathway. His threads swishing all over the place.

"_**I don't do hugs kid. Don't try it again. I think we should we get going. We don't want them to think your dead."**_ He said. _**'Though I'm sure they wouldn't mind.'**_ From the story he heard from the blonde he didn't doubt it one bit. _**"Come on gaki! We should get there before the sun the sun comes up. The less people that see us trying to get back in; the better the chance of us getting kicked out…or attacked." **_He walked over to Naruto, grabbed him around the waist, and carried him under his arm as he made a mad dash for the small entrance of the cave.

"I thought you didn't do hugs Kakuzu-Nii-san?" He asked. Naruto was the picture of innocence.

"_**This is not a hug Naruto. I am merely carrying you like a sack of potatoes because that is how fast you run."**_ Was the emotionless reply he received. _**"Unless you would like for me to drag you across the ground by my threads?" **_

"N-NOOOO! I'm fine like a sack of potatoes Nii-san. Heehee!" He said nervously while rubbing the back of his head.

"_**Good. Now as soon as we leave this cave I want you to lead me to your village's Hokage. So I can 'talk' to him. Got it gaki?" **_

"Hai! Nii-san!" He chirped.

The duo exited the cave without complications. After shifting Naruto onto his back, Kakuzu scaled the waterfalls cliff before shooting off in the direction of the Village Hidden in the Leaves. It was ¾ through their journey home that Naruto began asking his new brother questions about his life over the past 178 years. Kakuzu told him about the techniques he learned and people he fought with a little more enthusiasm than he usually did. It was when Naruto asked about how he ended up in a coffin that he remained silent. Only telling him that it was a story for another time. The rest of their trip was spent with Naruto sleeping and Kakuzu running towards his new home.


End file.
